


Flocks and Fuck-ups

by tawg



Series: Hawkeyes and Handlers [3]
Category: Hawkeye (Comics), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, Kate as a SHIELD agent/collaborator, M/M, Other, References to Sex, assorted ficlets, character death (warned for in chapter notes), flirting while on mission, mission aftercare, previously posted to tumblr, tending to an injured person, tumblr writing meme fics
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-01-07
Updated: 2014-01-07
Packaged: 2018-01-07 20:57:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 1,280
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1124296
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tawg/pseuds/tawg
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of ficlets written for prompts on tumblr.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Wrangling from a distance

"Reminder to all Hawkeyes to please stick to the protocol," Phil said over the comms. "This is recon. Hawkeye I need you to get your hand out of your purse and look charming," Phil instructed, only to hear a vague grumble from Kate in return. “Hawkeye, back away from the buffet and resume circling the room, please.” Clint responded with a similar grumble, and loaded up a small plate with everything he could grab before dusting his hands off on his pants. 

Phil sighed loudly, hoping to send the message that he was deeply disappointed with them as a pair of operatives and that he felt he deserved better. Clint glanced up at the security camera and gave Phil a not-at-all subtle wink, and Kate lifted a hand to her mouth in a poor effort to hide the kissy noises she was sending in Phil’s direction. Phil rolled his eyes and sighed again.


	2. Nursing in the Nest

"I can do this myself," Phil protested for at least the third time. "It’s not the first time I’ve busted a knee."

"It took you twenty minutes to change your underpants last night," Clint protested as he dug through Phil’s closet.

"I was putting on a show."

"The part where you fell over and banged your shoulder on the dresser was really sexy," Kate chimed in, tugging his socks up. Phil waited until she was completely satisfied with the even height of his sock around his calves, before lifting his good leg and using his heel to scrunch the sock on his other leg back down.

"I didn’t want to use the same old moves on you," Phil replied with a straight face. An expression that cracked when Clint emerged triumphantly with a pair of jeans. "No," Phil protested. "I’m going into work later."

"No you’re not," Kate cut in. "You’re on leave for the rest of the week."

"Yeah, but he’ll go in anyway," Clint said as he tossed the jeans to Kate. "May as well make it look like he wasn’t too keen to get back to it." He stood next to Phil and bent down to get his hands under Phil’s armpits, preparing to heave him to his feet.

"Fucking Christ, Clint. I can stand on my- Oof!" Clint, built like a wall and with all of the delicacy of a brick, yanked Phil up off the bed and held him up as Kate crouched down and batted at Phil’s feet one at a time, coaxing him to step into his pants. Leaning against Clint did support him a little when he had to rest his weight on his bad leg (though his original plan of just sitting on the fucking bed until his slacks were up to his knees and then standing on his good leg would have been perfectly fine), and he suspected that the Hawkeyes were keen to help.

The way Clint wrapped his arms around Phil’s middle and kissed the side of his neck wasn’t the most helpful thing he’d done that morning, and the way Kate paused in fastening Phil’s jeans to nuzzle at the skin below his bellybutton was definitely slowing the whole operation down. But, Phil would grudgingly admit, it did make him feel better.


	3. Fight Me (but please don't)

"You’re being an idiot!" Kate yelled.

"It’s none of your business!" Clint yelled back.

Kate’s expression shifted into one of indignant rage and she spun on her heel to face Phil. “Well?!” she said sharply. “What do you think, Phil?” Kate was radiating anger, and Clint had a surly tension rolling off him in waves.

When faced with such ominous options, Phil decided that honesty was the best policy. “… I think you’re both scary when you yell.”


	4. Haunt Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Content warning: character death.

It was an interesting feeling, being mostly dead. Her spirit apparently had a few days worth of living left in it, leaving her as a ghost roaming the mortal plane until the energy ran out. That was probably how so many people failed to stay dead - fix the body and the soul has something to step right back into. Not that it was likely. Not enough left to fix. 

She went and saw her dad, her family. Seemed like the thing to do, but they couldn’t see her and it didn’t make her feel any better. Phil was more depressing. Working away with the steady patience that Kate had always thought characterised him. He could be a firecracker when he wanted to be, but now he was damp and soggy all through. She watched him take reports from underlings, make reports to higher ups. Return to a dim little room that was his office (she’d never seen his office before; Phil had always lied and said he didn’t have one) and sit at his desk, surrounded by work and clues and trinkets and piles and piles of important things. He looked weary. He often did. She laid her thin, silvery hand on his shoulder and Phil pressed a hand to his face, sat slumped forward and breathing shakily with his eyes covered by his hand. Raw, and there wasn’t enough of her left to feel anything about that. She left him to his moment.

Clint was easier to find. He was Hawkeye and she had been too and there was a long, dark thread that tied together birds of a feather. He was in a bar, a woman leaning close to him and his nose in her hair. She looked old, though Clint wasn’t young and Phil was less so. Clint probably didn’t care. Kate wondered where he’d take her. Back to his own apartment with its cold sheets and thick layer of dust. Maybe to her place with a thousand knick knacks he’d never notice. Maybe they wouldn’t go anywhere, just rut against one another behind the building. He wouldn’t take her to Phil’s tiny apartment. Wouldn’t even mention it, though when Kate made herself think about it she was sure that Phil would know. Would know even before Clint did what his plans were.

She stared at Clint, one of his hard hands splayed across a pale back, his pinky finger pressing down the back of tight jeans. She watched hands shift over bodies that were rich with history and glowing with life. Watched as her vision started to blur and colours slipped away. Things ended, of course. Things ended all the damn time.


	5. Dudes in Distress

" _‘Stick to the plan, Hawkeye’,_ ” she sneered as she crouched down beside them, Clint cuffed to a chair and Phil on the ground beside him. " _‘Don’t do anything stupid, Hawkeye’,_ ” she continued as she tucked her fingers under the tie being used to gag Phil. He gave her an exasperated look and, after taking a moment to enjoy it, she tugged the tie down and allowed Phil to clumsily spit out the hanky that had been stuffed in his mouth.

"For the record, those statements were directed at _both_ of you,” he said as Kate started picking the lock of the cuffs around his wrists. 

"For the record," Kate parroted back, "I’m totally saving both of your asses right now." Clint bobbed his head and made a muffled noise of complaint, and Kate reached over and ruffled his hair. "I think we should keep him like this," she said. "He’s less trouble this way."

"I think we should get out of here," Phil returned as he climbed up Clint’s body in order to get upright.

"Fine," Kate huffed as she started working on Clint’s cuffs. "Cut my moment of glory short."

"We’ll worship you later," Phil assured her in a dry tone, and Kate let her mouth curl into a grin. She’d make sure they delivered on that promise.


End file.
